In a seedy East Village apartment, five members of a washed up rock band mindlessly watch T.V., until someone kicks it in and theyve got to figure out what to do next. This is the premise of Adam Rapps new existential play, Finer Noble Gases, the opener for Rattlestick Theaters fall festival dedicated to his work.

The essence of the play for me is about how we stop feeling and become disconnected from ourselves, says Rapp. In my late 20s, I felt like I was winding down. I hadnt found my audience. I was without feedback, so it was like working in a vacuum, and that can be toxic. I got the title from the chemical term. Fine noble gases are inert gases that dont combine.

Now 36, Rapp has turned his own angst and inertia around. Hes published several novels, is resident playwright for the Edge Theater Company, has earned himself numerous awards, and his critically acclaimed Stone Cold Dead Serious was named one of Burns Mantle Ten Best Plays of the 2002-2003 season.

Ive always loved the idea of making up stories, he said. But the writing really started in college when I dropped out of Pre-Med and found an amazing poetry class. I took up a pencil and it was organic. I fell in love with it, branched into fiction and finally started doing plays.

In 1991, right after graduation, Rapp came to New York to live with his brother (actor Anthony Rapp) in the Village, where he finished a novel and became an avid fan of theater, especially affected by works of Caryl Churchill and Sam Shepard.

My first play was produced in 1993, says the writer. Early themes were on the strange darkness that lurks in families. Then I shifted to more political and social ideas - whatever keeps me up at night - like isolation and existential questions.

Finer Noble Gases is an important piece for me - all about music, loss of inspiration and inertia. This rock band forgets what theyre about and gets into drugs. They speak in non-sequiturs and their apartment is like a hellhole. Theyre trust-fund kids, and one who moves furniture. The plot is about how theyre going to get another T.V., so it grows into a farce from an existential kind of thing, with no act breaks, and at the end they actually perform rock music in a flashback dream sequence.

According to Rapp, the band is very real and talented. It includes drummer Ray Rizzo and Rapp himself, (he sings and plays guitar), and theyre actually performing several gigs downtown in October. Tech for Finer Noble Gases completes the scene with stadium rock lights and edgy direction by Michael Garces.

Hes a great choice for this ensemble, Rapp notes. Hes also an actor, a playwright, and he was a drummer, so hes obviously sensitive to the material and the actors. Even so, its a challenge in a small theater with limited finances, getting all the tech stuff right. But my writing style fits the space. Its spare, with short sentences. These characters dont have much breath left, and it all works well in an intimate space because it feels more enclosed.

If everything comes together, people will laugh and feel troubled at once, he adds. For me, this is a wake-up call for artists struggling with their work, plus the importance of connection to loved ones. Its both drama and farce, disturbing and very graphic. One of my missions is to attract a younger audience. Im reaching out to people who are not conventional theater goers, and hoping to get them hooked.